Green financing vs climate change

Climate change is a major global concern affecting everybody from the tropics to the poles as the Earth’s temperature rises causing an increase in extreme weather events, shrinking water supply, dying coral reefs, forests fires and other intense variations in the atmosphere.

For its part, the Philippines has had its share of the ill-effects of climate change, with Super Typhoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan), the most devastating to hit the country in November 2013 killing at least 6,300 people on official count (some estimates the death toll to reach nearly 20,000).

The increased number of super typhoons hitting the Philippines had significantly impacted the agriculture sector. With this concern brought by climate change, the Philippine government in collaboration with the local communities and international partners are joining hands to act with the clear aim of escaping the worst impacts of climate change and establish a safer future for the country.

The Duterte adiministration’s efforts to revive and rehabilitate the country’s environment can be clearly observed with the ambitious P47 billion plan to clean the once pristine waters of the famous Manila Bay, duplicating the government’s success in rehabilitating Boracay beach.

However, programs and actions to save the environment comes with a price and financing it added to the concerns. Good thing help came from concerned institutions and other countries such as the United Kingdom (UK).

The UK Government through the British Embassy Manila, convened a forum on green financing in partnership with the Department of Finance, Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas, National Economic and Development Authority and Climate Change Commission.

With the theme, Green Finance Towards a Sustainable Philippines, the forum intends to serve as a platform for harnessing and building on the growing interest in climate funding and development of new markets for green finance to support and accelerate green investment and projects in the country.

Among such projects in the country was the Green, Green, Green which aims to provide a more sustainable and livable community in 145 cities through the development of public open spaces.

Budget Secretary Benjamin Diokno, whose department spearheaded the program’s launch last year, had cited that the project was in line with the Duterte administration’s massive infrastructure programs.

“In our pursuit of a robust economy and public infrastructure development, we make it a point to ensure that our sustainability goals are not compromised,” Diokno said.

“Green, Green, Green will help city governments create forest parks, arboretum and botanical gardens; improve livability of urban areas through various activities and methods such as landscaping, turfing and tree planting; and transform streetscapes through installation of eco-friendly street furniture, fixtures and shading,” he added.

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III during the forum announced the possibility of green financing for various public private partnership projects and the desire of the government to provide mainstream access to such funding, encouraging sustainable development through banks and microfinance institutions.

“The Duterte administration is mulling over the possible expansion of the coverage of the ASEAN (Association of South East Asian Nations) Green Bonds Framework to include sectors such as transportation, infrastructure and commercial banking in step with heightened global efforts to mobilize investments aimed at improving the resilience of communities to the perils of climate change,” Dominguez explained.